Articles

James Coleman has written extensively on the tax area and currently writes a regular column on tax in the New Zealand Law Journal and in Taxation Today. He is also an author for Brookers SMART tax.

The position of victims of fraud

August 2014 New Zealand Law Journal

This article looks at the case of HC Services Ltd v Commissioner of Inland Revenue [2014] NZHC 1169, (2014) 26 NZTC 21,071. The case exposes a conceptual error in the legal logic of the taxpayer’s case and sets out clearly the relationship fraud has to the creation of legal rights and obligations generally and the application of the general anti-avoidance provision in particular. The article explores the options of the victim.

  • NZLJ
  • Tax update

Is there an arguable common law basis for accountants privilege?

March 2013 The New Zealand Law Journal

This article looks at the English Supreme Court decision in R (on the application of Prudential Plc) v Special Commissioner of Income Tax) [2013] UKSC 1. The case involved an argument that the advice of accountants ought to enjoy a form of common law privilege independent of statute. The case was lost but largely due to a marked Judicial reluctance to do anything new rather than because the argument was unsound on a first principles basis.

  • NZLJ